Australian players named for Hockey India auction

Four Australian hockey co-captains along with current skipper Jamie Dwyer have made themselves available for the Hockey India League (HIL) starting Jan 5 next year.

Mark Knowles, Fergus Kavanagh, Liam de Young and Edward Ockenden will be part of the HIL players auction to be held next month.

Hockey India (HI) secretary general Narinder Batra said the presence of several Australian stars would add to the quality of the league.

Luke Dorner, Russell Ford, Kiel Brown, Simon Orchard, Christopher Ciriello and Rob Hammond are among the others from Australia who will be available for the auction for the six-team tournament ending Feb 3.

The 28-year-old Knowles is a defender and has played close to 200 international games.

He was named the FIH Young Player of the Year in 2007 and by that time he had already been part of the Olympic winning team at 2004 Athens. He was also a part of the Australian World Cup winning team in 2010.

Kavanagh, 27, is another defender with the experience of more than 150 internationals. He was part of the Aussie squad in the 2010 World Cup.

With nearly 300 caps, the 31-year-old de Young is among the world's most seasoned players while 25-year-old Ockenden is a striker who has played around 170 games for Australia.

De Young was also named the FIH Young Player of Year in 2008.

The Australians join 150 Indians and 15 Pakistanis who have already signed up for HIL.

Over the coming days, HIL will unveil players from other parts of the world who have signed up and are keen to play in the tournament that has been given a window by the International Hockey Federation (FIH).